Consider Your Cat's Age

For kittens (up to 8-9 months of age): Feed your kitten a consistent canned, semi-moist, or dry cat food designed for kittens.

• For adult cats (1-9 years): Feed your cat a consistent canned, semi-moist, or dry cat food designed for an "adult" cat.
• For senior cats (8-9+ years): Feed your cat a consistent canned, semi-moist, or dry cat food designed for a "senior" cat.

Consider Your Cat's Body Condition

• Underweight cats: Feed your cat 1-1/2 times the "usual" amount of food and make an appointment to see your veterinarian about your cat's body condition. Consider switching to a food with higher protein and fat content.
• Lean cats: Many healthy cats are a bit thin, especially active young male cats. Consider increasing total daily food or caloric intake by 25 percent. Weigh your cat every week, if possible, to chart progress.
• Chubby cats: If your cat is a bit overweight, try increasing the daily exercise routine. Gradually increase exercise over two weeks unless limited by a medical condition. Many cats like to play. If these measures fail, cut out all treats and reduce daily intake of food by up to 25 percent.
• Fat or obese cats: Stop all treats except hairball medicines if needed. Increase exercise gradually over 2-3 weeks if not limited by a medical condition. If these measures fail, reduce the total daily food amount by 25 percent to 40 percent, switch to a low fat/high fiber diet, and call your veterinarian to discuss plans. Inquire about prescription-type reduction diets that can really be effective while providing balanced nutrition.

's Choice

We regularly feed our cats Science Diet and Prescription Hills Diet which both have lines of food for the different needs of cats. Iams is a cheaper acceptable alternative though it doesn't sit as well with our cats as Science Diet. Another option is a new brand called Kirkland , which seems well formulated with good ingredients.

Our Tips

1.  Buy big and store it because the price of cat food changes dramatically with the size of bag.

2.  Stay away from the cheap saver brands which may contain rendered animal parts.

3.  Keep an eye out for the ash and magnesium contents since high levels of these cause painful and costly urinary tract infections! Ash should be about 5% and Magnesium about 0.08%.

Related Links

For more information on nutrition here are a few sites we found informative: http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/ http://www.bestfriends.org/members/health/catnutr.htm